By the end of every school year, students expect to be able to pick up their purchased yearbooks from Ms. Diaz’s room. However, nobody really ever stops to think about the hard work and creativity that goes into planning and designing yearbooks every year. MIAHI senior staff member Isaac Colon explains, “The yearbook is made online in a program where we upload our photos and layout the pages. About 90% of the pictures in the book are taken by MIAHI staff and photography students, and 100% of the book’s design is made by the MIAHI staff,” he said.

MIAHI’s Many Achievements 

Miami High produces a high quality and nationally accredited yearbook. According to MIAHI Advisor Ms. Diaz, “Miami High has won Best Student Photography from Herff Jones 5 years in a row. But our highest achievement was in 2019 when the MIAHI Yearbook was awarded Top Honors: First Place with Special Merit by the American Scholastic Press Association’s National Competition. We were one of just 22 schools in the country who earned that honor and one of just six nation-wide awarded Outstanding Theme for ‘Whippy and Goldie’s Journey through High School.’ That was the year we created a story book and gave Whippy a sister. Yes, Whippy now has a twin sister named Goldie!  The book was filled with original illustrations of Whippy and Goldie,” she said.

The Process of Creating the Yearbook

Everyone can acknowledge that creating Miami High’s yearbooks is not an easy job. MIAHI staff members spend all 10 months of the school year brainstorming and preparing to mold a physical copy of our high school memories. MIAHI junior staff member Ashley Ferrera comments, “The making of the yearbook is one of the most stressful jobs ever. Because we first have to come up with an idea for the theme of the book. We then have to plan the cover, then the end sheets, then  take the pictures and on and on and on. It is a lot of little and tedious steps but after all that it is a satisfying feeling to build something out of nothing,” she said.

Covid-19’s Effect on Yearbook 

The Covid-19 Virus has affected a lot of Miami High traditions and activities throughout the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, and the yearbook was no exception.  Ms. Diaz said, “The Coronavirus has made an already arduous task, even more of a challenge. Events and activities, like homecoming dance, the parade, winter shows, spirit week, that are usually featured in the yearbook, have been canceled.”

Physical distance guidelines implemented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are also impacting how MIAHI designs club spreads and pages. Ms. Diaz said, “For example, in a large club like BETA where there are over 200 members, last year, it was one big group shot. This year, it’ll be 200+ individual images that we have to shoot and upload to the yearbook design server. We will do that for every club, sport and school organization. That’s thousands of photos. During a typical year, we handle about 3,000 photos. This year we will easily double that amount.”

Why should students buy the yearbook?

Many high school traditions students look forward to participating in have been taken away from us and may not happen at all. However, MIAHI Advisor Ms. Diaz assures that the yearbook is one tradition that we will not miss out on because of Corona. “No dances, pep rallies, homecoming parade, winter show, choir and band concerts, few sports events, club socials or services. There may be no Prom, Grad Bash, Senior Breakfast or traditional graduation walking across the stage. But we promise, you will have a yearbook. And the students working on the yearbook for you have the goal of including as many students as possible. We want everyone in there. We want to remember you and share your story. The MIAHI yearbook has been around for over 100 years, and we work hard to ensure that you can be part of that tradition,” she said.

Nevertheless, there are some students every year that find the yearbook “unnecessary” or “a waste of money.”  However, multiple MIAHI staff members and Miami High students would tell you the complete opposite. Editor-in-Chief of MIAHI senior Carlos Martinez-Busta said, “When you buy the book, you help MIAHI make an even better book the following year because we use the money from the sale of the book to make next year’s yearbook.”

Isaac Colon said, “Students should buy the book because of how much we try to make the book encapsulate the year it belongs to. We try to make the book capture a particular moment in time, which in this case would be the year 2020-2021, and everything that has happened in it. Buying the book would be like having a physical memory of your time in high school.”